War of the Worlds, the

On October 30, 1938, between 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., CBS broadcast the radio play The War of the Worlds. The script by Howard Koch was based on the novel of the same name by H. G. Wells, written in 1897; the director of the radio play was the then unknown Orson Welles. The broadcast became a milestone in media history, causing the emergence of many myths. At the same time, it is also a milestone of media research because the discourse in communication science constantly refers to it.

The radio play is about an invasion of the planet Earth by Martians. The first part of about 40 minutes depicts the futile fight of resistance against the invaders. In the second part of about 20 minutes, ...